Vegan Shepherd’s Pie With Sweet Potatoes

 

Here Eva shares her Vegan Shepherd’s Pie With Sweet Potatoes recipe,  a meatless and dairy-free version of the well-loved Irish classic.

 

Why do you recommend this recipe? 

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie With Sweet Potatoes, is a meatless and dairy-free version of the well-loved Irish classic. It’s easy to make, delicious and healthy. I am using Puy lentils which have a very meaty flavour and don’t need to be soaked in advance. This makes them easy to work with and doesn’t require any planning ahead. This dish will either feed a family of 6 or can be used for easy batch cooking.

 

What do you find is the biggest challenge in growing happy, healthy eaters? 

So far I have only been breastfeeding and have yet to experience the joys of introducing different foods to our son.

 

What’s the one thing you find works with your family to help with this challenge? 

Getting children involved in the kitchen often encourages them to eat what they have prepared themselves. Also, showing and explaining how the food is grown before you prepare it, sparks their curiosity. Offering the same food with different textures can sometimes help because many children and adults have adverse feeling towards a certain texture rather than the flavour itself.

 

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie With Sweet Potatoes

It’s easy to make, delicious and healthy

 

Ingredients

 

Sweet Potato Topping

  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 1/4 cup coconut milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
  • sea salt

Shepherd’s Pie Filling

  • 1 small onion finely diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 cups puy lentils
  • 3 cups filtered water
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 1/2 cup tomato puree
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
  • sea salt to taste
  • coconut oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F/180 °C.
  2. In a large frying pan, saute the onions and garlic in coconut oil over medium heat until the onions become translucent.
  3. Add the puy lentils and filtered water, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for around 20 minutes until almost all the liquid has evaporated.
  4. Add the warm vegetable stock, smoked paprika, thyme, rosemary, tomato puree and let simmer for a further 5 minutes.
  5. Meantime, peel and cut the sweet potatoes into chunks and boil in salted water for about 15 minutes. Don’t allow them to become too soft or they will absorb too much water.
  6. Strain the water and mash together coconut milk and rosemary.
  7. Spoon the mixture into an oven-safe casserole dish.
  8. Layer the sweet potato mash on top of the shepherd’s pie filling and run a fork over the surface to get little peaks which will turn golden-brown and crunchy.
  9. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the sweet potato mash becomes nice and crispy.

Find out more about Eva, a Nutrition & Health Coach and founder of The Healthy Tart, a  Health & Parenting blog, who’s also a mum to a baby boy at https://thehealthytart.com/

 

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